Luggage illuminator



Dec. 18, 1956 E. PRI-:BOL Erm.

LUGGAGE ILLUMINATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 24. 1955 un., IU). rikif! E. PRI-:BOL ET AL LUGGAGE ILLUMINATOR Dec. 18, 1956 2 Shee'cs--ShemI 2 Filed July 24, 1955 IN V EN TORS.

E VEL YN P/PEBUL 'HEUDO'QE J. PPEEL United States Patent O LUGGAGE ILLUMINATOR Evelyn Prebol and Theodore J. Prebol, Lincoln, Nebr.

Application July 24, 1953, Serial No. 370,132

1 Claim. (Cl. 24U-6.45)

closure or where light is not available for direction into the interior of the bag or other container.

We propose to overcome this difficulty by providing, in connection with the luggage,a lighting means which turns on immediately when the luggage is oprenedrso that the interior of the container is 'lighted for easy location of articles within the container.

On of the objects of our invention is to provide a device which may be readily attached to any piece of luggage and removed therefrom and used independently as a lighting source if desired.

Still another object of our invention is to provide a device such that a circuit is closed as soon as the luggage is opened and in which the circuit is opened when the bag is closed.

Other and further features and objects of the invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a consideration of the accompanying drawings and following specifications, wherein is disclosed a single exemplary embodiment of the invention, with the understanding, however, that such changes may be made therein as fall within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of one form of our invention and illustrates a double illuminator so constructed that if one of illumination fails, the other will still be operative.

Figure 2 is a View in section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view in longitudinal section of the device shown in Figures l and 2.

Figure 4 is a view in perspective of a modified single element form of the invention.

Figure 5 is a view in section along the lines 5--5 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a view in section along the lines 6-6 of Figure 4.

Figure 7 is :a view in perspective of still another embodiment of the invention.

Figure 8 is a view in section taken along the line 8-8 of Figure 7, and

Figure 9 is a view in end elevation of the device shown in Figures 7 and 8.

Referring now to Figures 1, 2 and 3 in which is shown one embodiment of the invention employing a double source of light, a long closed metallic or plastic tube 10 is provided and this tube has insulating cylinders of paper or cardboard 11 and 12 located within the tube 10 to insulate the batteries from the tube.

Partitions 13 and 14 are located centrally of the tube 2,774,860 Patented Dec. 18, 1956 ICC and each of these partitions or discs are provided with insulating cylinders 16 and 17 in which sliding metallic pins 18 and 19 are located.

The ends of the tube 10 are closed by screw caps 21 and 22 which have threads to receive the flashlight bulbs 23 and 24.

A button 26 mounted on a metallic shaft 27 can move up and down and the lower end of the shaft has metallic contacts 28 and 29 which can, when the button is raised, make contact with the pins 18 and -19 to close two circuits n to light the two bulbs.

The electricity from batteries 31 and 32 flows through the center posts of the batteries and through the bulb 23, then back through the shell 10, through the shaft 27 when the button is in the raised dotted line position 36, and through the pin 18 and to the metallic bottom of the battery 31 to complete the circuit and light the light 23.

- In the same way, the bulb 24 is lighted by means of the batteries 33 and 34 through contact 29. The spring 37 will normally urge the button 26 to its closed raised position indicated at 36.

The structure illustrated in Figure 1 shows in section the two abutting members 41 and 42 of the closure of a piece of luggage. The case 10 of the luggage lighter is secured inside the luggage by means of a pair of clips 43 and 44, and of course the lighter may be removed by disengaging the clips from the closure.

A third clip 46 engaged on the lip 42 has a tonguelike portion 47 which will bear against the button 26 when the luggage is closed to disengage the contacts 28 and 29, to thus open the circuits to lamps 23 and 24. As long as the luggage is closed, the filament of the lamps will be deenergied. When the luggage is opened, the lamps will be energied and the interior of the luggage will be lighted.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and 6, a metal case 51 is employed which is formed suliiciently in width to accommodate two of the pencil-type batteries, such as illustrated at 52. The end of the container 51 is closed by means of a snap-in closure illustrated at 53.

A light bulb 54 is threaded into a metallic block 56 in such manner that the central contact member 57 of the lamp is located within the path of movement of the spring 58. The spring is so arranged that when pressure of the pin 59 against the spring is released, the lower edge of the spring will close with the contact 57 of the lamp to conduct electricity to the lamp. The other end of the spring member as indicated at 58a, is disposed to rest against the central contact member of battery 61. The current then passes through the spring member 62 to the center post of the battery 52, and then through the spring clip 63 which grounds the battenl through the container 51. Thus a circuit is completed through the lamp, through the batteries, and through the container to energize the lamp when pressure on this spring 58 is released.

A U-shaped spring 64 is fastened to the outer wall of the closure 63, and the free end of this spring projects upwardly to aposi-tion such that the lip of the bag or other luggage member, illustrated at 66, presses against the spring to force the plunger 59 down to cause the spring 58 to be disengaged from contact 57 to thus open the circuit to the lamp when the luggage is closed.

The clip member 67, fastened to the container 51, holds the unit in place within the luggage.

In another embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 7, 8 and 9, a small open-ended rectangular casing 71 is provided and this casing is provided with an opening 72 at its lower wall to loosely receive a lamp 73, which lamp is threaded into a suitable receptacle 74 in a spring member 76. The spring member 76 is fastened to the lower' wall of the housing 71 as by means of rivets at 77. The free end of the springis provided with an approximately U-shaped, upwardly projecting clip 78 which has a horn member 78a which is adapted to be forced downwardly by the lip 79 of the luggage when the luggage is closed.

Thus the lamp may be moved up and down by'the clip or horn '78a which carries the lamp with it, to cause the center contact point S1 to move into and out of contact with the Contact strip 82 which is fastened to the Vinside of the upper portion of the housing 71, as by means of rivets 83 and 84. A clip is provided at 86 for securing the unit in place Within the luggage.

Power for operating the unit is supplied by batteries in the battery case 87, and the cord 88 connecting the batteries with the switch housing and controlling switch members is sufficiently long that the battery case may be in the bottom of the luggage and out of the way.

An advantage of this unit is of course its relatively small size.

It is apparent that we have solved an extremely annoying problem in connection with the use of luggage and packing and removing articles from Within the luggage.

Although we have described several specic embodiments of the invention, it is apparent that modiiications thereof may be made by those skilled in the art. Such modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention as set forth in the appended claim.

We claim as our invention:

In a luggage lighter, a tubular battery casing, a pluality of clip means mounted on said battery casing and adapted to secure said battery casing to one of the lips of a luggage piece and internally thereof, a pair of lamps positioned one at each end of the casing, a plurality of batteries within said casing, a plunger-like light switch having a shaft projecting outwardly from the Wall of the casing and positioned between said batteries, contact points on the inner end of said shaft, sliding contact pins mounted in the battery casing and cooperating with said contact points to provide an electrical circuit between said batteries and said lamps, spring means on said switch shaft to bias said shaft outwardly and move said sliding Contact pins into engagement with the ba cries to energize the lamps, another clip adapted to be mounted on the other lip ot the luggage piece, said last mentioned clip being adapted to engage said switch when the baggage piece is in closed position to deenergize the lamps.

vReferences Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,268,846 Holton June 1, 1918 v1,466,350 Barany Aug, 2S, 1923 2,215,320 Burns Sept. 17, 1940 2,218,396 Hallbauer Oct. 15, 1940 2,465,029 Meggs Mar. 22, 1949 2,540,470 Baugh Feb. 6, 1951 

